A process provides a ceramic film, such as a mesoporous silica film, on a substrate, such as a silicon wafer. The process includes preparing a film-forming fluid containing a ceramic precursor, a catalyst, a surfactant and a solvent, depositing the film-forming fluid on the substrate, and removing the solvent from the film-forming fluid on the substrate to produce the ceramic film on the substrate. The ceramic film has a dielectric constant below 2.3, a halide content of less than 1 ppm and a metal content of less than 500 ppm, making it useful for current and future microelectronics applications.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A ceramic film produced by a process comprising: preparing a film-forming fluid comprising a ceramic precursor, a catalyst, a surfactant and solvent(s); depositing said film-forming fluid on said substrate; and removing said solvent(s) from said film-forming fluid on said substrate to produce said ceramic film on said substrate, wherein said ceramic film has a dielectric constant below 2.3, and a metal content of less than 500 ppm and wherein said film does not include pores sufficiently ordered in a plane of the substrate such that an X-ray diffraction pattern of said film shows a diffraction peak.
2. The ceramic film of claim 1 , wherein said dielectric constant is from 2.2 to 1.3.
3. The ceramic film of claim 1 , wherein said halide content is less than 500 ppb.
4. The ceramic film of claim 1 , wherein said metal content is less than 1 ppm.
5. The ceramic film of claim 1 , wherein said metal content is less than 100 ppb.
6. The ceramic film of claim 1 , having a porosity of about 40% to about 80%.
7. The ceramic film of claim 1 , having a porosity of about 55% to about 75%.
8. A ceramic film produced by a process comprising: preparing a film-forming fluid comprising a ceramic precursor, a catalyst, a surfactant and solvent(s); depositing said film-forming fluid on said substrate; and removing said solvent(s) from said film-forming fluid on said substrate to produce said ceramic film on said substrate, wherein said ceramic film has a dielectric constant below 2.3, and a metal content of less than 500 ppm and wherein said film includes pores sufficiently ordered in a plane of the substrate that an X-ray diffraction pattern of said film shows a diffraction peak at a d spacing greater than about 44 Å.
9. A ceramic film having a dielectric constant below 2.3, a metal content of less than 500 ppm and a porosity of about 40% to about 80%., wherein said film includes pores sufficiently ordered in a plane of the substrate that an X-ray diffraction pattern of said film shows a diffraction peak at a d spacing greater than about 44 Å.
10. The ceramic file of claim 9 , having a median pore size less than about 50 Å.
11. A ceramic film having a dielectric constant below 2.3, a metal content of less than 500 ppm and a porosity of about 40% to about 80%., wherein said film does not include pores sufficiently ordered in a plane of the substrate such that an X-ray diffraction pattern of said film shows a diffraction peak.
12. The ceramic film of claim 11 , wherein said dielectric constant is from 2.2 to 1.3.
13. The ceramic film of claim 11 , wherein a halide content is less than 500 ppb.
14. The ceramic film of claim 11 , wherein said metal content is less than 1 ppm.
15. The ceramic film of claim 11 , wherein said metal content is less than 100 ppb.
16. The ceramic film of claim 11 , having a porosity of about 50% to about 80%.
17. The ceramic film of claim 11 , having a porosity of about 55% to about 75%.
18. The ceramic film of claim 11 , having a median pore size less than about 50 Å.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
January 14, 2002
September 13, 2005
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